The Outdoor Wire ran a holiday gift ideas list for outdoor enthusiasts last week, and it featured at least a couple of items for gun nuts. Two mentions are guns – both Smith & Wessons at that. Their first mention is the M&P22 pistol because you really can’t go wrong with a .22 to shoot cheaply all day long. The next recommendation is the M&P15 Sport.

Regardless, neither one of these is easy to pick up for the family member of said gun nut. On that front, his only other recommendation is the EoTech XPS3 Holographic Weapon Sight. The Outdoor Wire cites the battery life as a big plus to this sight. The only review on Amazon is low, but that’s because the guy got a defective one that was promptly replaced with a perfect one.

Perhaps the most amusing thing I find on his list would also work for a gunnie out at the range on a cold morning. A Coleman Portable Propane Coffeemaker. I can’t tell you why I find this so amusing, but I do. I think it speaks to the fact that I am not a hardcore coffee person, so I can’t imagine being in such dire need to own this. However, from the way I have seen some coffee addicts search out their next cup of java, I could totally see a market for it – complete with twitching hands trying to replace the propane cylinders when they realize it emptied just before making their next batch of brew.

10 Responses to “Shopping for the Gunnies on Your List”

Dear Bitter…I have made coffee on a tiny camp stove in temperatures approaching -40 in the Alaska Iditasport race, and drank it even when it started icing up. Two weeks ago, when a fierce autumn storm knocked down a lot of trees and killed the power, I methodically fired up my off-grid stuff and made a pot of coffee before surveying the damage. I’m pretty sure I could get through the Zombie Apocalypse if only one Starbucks survives…addiction is a terrible thing…
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Yes. Regardless of that fact, I saw this list from Outdoor Wire & thought some readers might find it handy. I mentioned the guns first since that’s what most people would probably love to see sticking out of their stocking on Christmas morning.

I have both an EOTech 552 and Aimpoint CompM4s. They do everything the same once they’re running. There’s the rub.

The Aimpoint is on. Right now. And will be for about the next five years.

The EoTech is off and cannot be left on longer than 4 hours. The controls are complicated compared to the Aimpoint and I’ve had to pry the contacts for the battery unjammed twice now. I like the reticule, but I don’t want to be fiddling around with the optic when I should be shooting.

I really don’t see the need for the Coleman Propane Coffeemaker. It seems to me that you could do just as well with a Coleman stove – gas, propane, or mult-fuel – and an old fashioned coffee pot. Then you could could have hot food with that coffee.

As someone who suffers from a chronic affliction known as “excessive blood in the coffee stream”, I have to agree that I don’t see the point either; when I was a wee lad and my family camped out, my folks certainly made their share of coffee over a Coleman stove or a campfire.

On the other hand, the coffeemaker doesn’t strike me as being quite as ridiculous as the gasoline powered blender. Especially since that’s a two-stroke, so you’ve got to premix oil and gas to run the thing. And you can get blenders that run directly off of 12V.

I knew a number of motorcycle racers who had blenders amde from a weed-eater motor at the race-track, complete with throttle handles – perfect for margaritas after a day of changing tires and adjusting carburetors and such. Easy to get some Blendzall in there, and the smell of Castor-bean pre-mix in the morning (or afternoon) is wonderful.